lsu

I love photos of Auburn’s gameday. Since Auburn is off this week with a bye, and they really couldn’t have a better Saturday than today, I thought I would just post a few pics from last week’s game against LSU. This game I decided to not fight the gate entrance camera police by trying to take my camera into the stadium (Jordan-Hare Stadium no longer allows Digital SLR’s taken in by the fans sitting in the seats, technically it’s “cameras with detachable lenses or cameras with lenses longer than 4 inches“, a policy vary randomly enforced, unlike the food policy). Instead I opted for my new iPhone 5. These are my very first images taken with the iPhone 5, and so far it has done quite well. From a camera perspective it didn’t make big leaps but there are a few nice updates, including the panorama feature I will post about some other day.

I have posted images using this camera phone since the very first one came out years ago, but each time the technology gets better, and the images allow for even greater creativity for the photographer. For a camera phone, these lighting conditions were near impossible to capture a few years ago (at least capture well), now, even low light shots are starting to be possible with just your phone. The first shot, the one at the top was taken from my seat in the end-zone, and the last shot was taken from a parking deck as the game ended. That shot has been one of my favorites over the years ever since I took this shot of the night we lost to LSU back in 2008 when Auburn lost 21 to 26 in a heartbreaker. Still, LSU never disappoints as far as quality football goes, and I got some of my favorite ESPN Gameday photos during a game at the LSU game that year.

So this week while we get to watch everyone else fret about their team losing here are a few gameday photos from Auburn last week via my iPhone. War Eagle!

As a follow up to my previous post, 2011 Auburn Football Starts My 40th Season, today’s Throwback Thursday is from April of 1972. I’m sure I have an earlier shot with some Auburn gear but this was close enough, me at about 18 months. It’s just about time to get started for the 2011 year and finally there are some consequential games right from the start with Oregon vs LSU and Boise State vs Georgia. Looking forward to Auburn vs Utah State this Saturday, just hope it isn’t 4 hours of full 100* sun. War Eagle.

What an exhausting weekend last Saturday was for many people, and a 16-21 loss makes it a bit longer. I normally have this post up on the same night as the football game but with everything going on this week, this is as good as it gets this time. The Auburn vs LSU game started very very early for me with ESPN Gameday and through to the final shots of the stadium as people left the game (see Fans Exit Jordan-Hare Stadium After a Long Day // Auburn 21 LSU 26). So here are some of the photos from the day. You can view the full gallery of images from the Auburn vs LSU game on the Auburn vs LSU 2008 gallery. Images are being loaded into that gallery right now and should have about 40 photos of the day later tonight. For now, here are a few of my favorites.

Let’s hope that this week’s game against Tennessee goes better than LSU. I will make a quick prediction that we will see some of Kodi Burns this week, but of course that is just a guess. It was a real heartbreaking loss to LSU, and the first time the home team had lost that game since 1999. It wasn’t from lack of trying, the guys played their hearts out as well, we just fell a few first downs short (among other things). Hope you enjoy the photos.

What an incredibly long day to end in a loss to LSU. It was a stunning end to the game and as fans left the stadium they had a dazed look of what just happened. I stopped to take several shots of the fans exiting Jordan Hare stadium and then went up on top of the parking deck and got this shot. To date this is probably my favorite shot of Jordan Hare.

The lights still flooding the field and a sea of people walking away like drones with no excitement or enthusiasm that we have come to expect. What an interesting day to say the least. More shots to come.

ESPN College GameDay is coming back to Auburn for the Auburn vs LSU game on Saturday, September 20, 2008. This will be the first time that ESPN’s traveling show will be in Auburn since the Auburn vs Florida game in 2006 when the Auburn Tigers beat the Florida Gators 27-17. Auburn vs LSU is always a great, nail biting game, and this year, Auburn will welcome ESPN commentators Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso and Desmond Howard as they setup shop, presumably just outside Jordan-Hare stadium, where they will broadcast live from 9-11am local CT.

Some Auburn ESPN College Game Day Facts

From Auburn pre-game report. ESPN’s College GameDay Built by Home Depot featuring Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso and Desmond Howard will be in Auburn this weekend for the Auburn-LSU game. It will mark the fifth visit to Auburn by the GameDay crew, which last visited for the 2006 Auburn-Florida game. Auburn also hosted GameDay for the 1995 Iron Bowl, a 1997 game against Florida and a 2004 game against Georgia. GameDay was scheduled to be at the Auburn-LSU game on Sept. 18, 2004, but the threat of Hurricane Ivan forced the show to be relocated.

It will be the ninth time that Auburn has played in GameDay’s on-site game. The Tigers are 5-3 in GameDay contests, including a 3-1 mark at home.

College GameDay 2006, Auburn vs Florida

Back in 2006 we were living in Colorado and I flew into Atlanta from Denver for the football game against Florida. Although Les Corso has not always seen Auburn orange and blue in the past, that weekend I did get to sit down with Corso for a short while and discuss the finer points of Auburn football. It is always exciting to have ESPN GameDay in Auburn and that year was no exception. 2006 was one of those crazy seasons where everyone was mumbling about the BCS ranking system and, especially here in Auburn, people were wondering how we were all going to get our fair shake at the BCS title. We ended up loosing two games, Georgia and Arkansas but did beat LSU (photos below) and went on to the Cotton Bowl that year.

At that time, I had already spoken with many people throughout the years who had run into Les Corso (and some of the Game Day crew) and their stories varied wildly. Of course I ran into Corso not at the game, but early Sunday morning in the Atlanta airport on my way through security, and shared a train ride to the gate with him. I doubt I will share the same ride this year since I now live in Auburn, but I never believed all those nasty rumors about you anyway Lee (haha), and I enjoyed our 10-15 minute conversation together.

My only regret was not bringing my camera equipment to Auburn with me for GameDay. Well not this year. This year I will be right in the thick of it with my camera equipment to bring the first blog photos of ESPN College GameDay on September 20th from here in Auburn. So if you are interested, come back here between the end of GameDay and the start of the LSU game on Saturday (some time between 12noon and 4pm CT) for some photos of the broadcast.

Auburn vs LSU is always dramatic fun, and having ESPN GameDay back in Auburn will only add to the excitement. The photos shown above were taken from the last Auburn vs LSU home game in 2006 when Auburn won 7-3, not much unlike last week vs Mississippi State. The last shot, towering over the line, was #77 King Dunlap during pre-game warm up (yes my one and only [so far] field appearance on the sidelines).

I am looking forward to the ESPN crew coming down to the plains and I hope everyone makes Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso and Desmond Howard all feel welcome here in Auburn, even if Corso does pull out a big yellow and purple tiger head at the end. If he does, I will post the photo right here for all to see.